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It all depends on the company and the players involved.
I've been in your shoes a couple times now. The companies I have dealt
with seem to believe in the myth that all contractors make so much more
money than a direct employee because as a contractor they don't get
benefits from their agency, or have to pay so much more for them if they
do. Sure, sometimes that is true, but for me it wasn't enough to justify
the huge pay cut they expected me to accept.
>>1. What percentage of my contract salary should I expect the employer
to
>>offer as a "real" salary for a permanent position?
>>
>>2. In terms of a percentage, what is reasonable to expect the company
to
>>pay for benefits, taxes, and other overhead associated with being a
real
>>employee?
I can't offer you a percentage for what to expect for wages or benefits,
but what I do is analyze the two. I create a chart where I list my
salary - direct and indirect. That means, my gross pay, taxes, my
benefits cost out-of-pocket, plus how many weeks of vacation, holiday,
and sick pay I get now, and what they are offering. Then I compare the
two. It is always important for me to look at my own personal expenses.
What can I afford to live on? I always expect that the company will
offer me less in base pay than I earned as a contractor, but the goal is
to keep things as close to even as possible. I don't expect the
transition to give me a jump up in pay.
I also take into account the job market. Is it an employee or an
employer's job market? When I got the offer from the big, now defunct,
wireless phone company, it was an employer's market, and I had very
little choice. My impression of today's market is that it has turned
some and is more an employer's market, meaning I have a bit more clout.
There are more job prospects and I can afford to be a bit tougher in
negotiating.
>>3. Is it reasonable for me to ask the employer to count my hire date
(in
>>terms of vacation accrual, vesting with the company, 401K and other
>>benefits) as the date I started working as a contractor (I have been
>>here continuously with no interruptions since that hire date)?
Nice to have, yes; reasonable to expect, no. Again, this is my
experience only. It is the company policy that dictates whether they
credit you with your original hire date and often they can't make
exceptions to policy. This also affects the prorating of your next
salary increase as well.
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